Parents' shock over sea drama

The two men were stranded in the south Pacific

The parents of a British adventurer involved in a dramatic rescue mission revealed how they missed his SOS call - because their answerphone was on.

Steve Brooks, 42, and Quentin Smith, 40, were forced to ditch their helicopter in the sea en-route from Chile to Antarctica.

Mr Smith rang his parents Mike and Mary in Stratford to raise the alarm, but the call was not picked up until much later in the day.

Fortunately, Mr Brooks had been able to contact his wife in London, and the emergency services were alerted.

Rescued pilot Quentin Smith

Mr Smith's father said: "I actually didn't hear the message until about 5pm on Monday.

"We obviously followed it up, but Quentin and Steve had already been in the dinghy and been rescued by the Chilean Navy."

Mrs Brooks said she received the call from her husband at 0115 GMT on Monday.

"He was definitely quite distressed. I was slightly uneasy. I was worried but I knew they were OK."

First aviators

It is still not known what went wrong and why the pair had to ditch the Robinson 44 helicopter in the Pacific Ocean just 36 miles north of Smith Island on the edge of the Antarctic peninsula.

They had been on their way from Cape Horn to the South Pole in a record attempt to be the first aviators to fly a helicopter to both Poles, after successfully flying the same helicopter to the North Pole last June.

Mr Smith is a world champion freestyle helicopter pilot who has flown twice around the globe.

Both men are due to be picked up by the Royal Navy survey vessel HMS Endurance.